TO RECAP . . .
I have written many times about social housing in Wales, and of the many problems created by the more irresponsible housing associations. Here are just a few of the problems:
- Unlike in Scotland, social housing providers in Wales are tied into an Englandandwales system. This results in our housing associations having to give priority treatment to people with no Welsh connections.
- Many of those being housed by these routes will be ‘problem families’, or young tearaways, they might be drug and alcohol abusers, or they’ll be recently released from prison. These issues will inevitably place a burden on our health service and other facilities while also affecting the quality of life in many Welsh communities.
- Wales has an ageing population. In a decade or so Wales will be the ‘oldest’ country in western Europe. This also places a strain on our NHS and other services which results in money being taken from education and other budgets. Yet many housing associations, particularly in the north, are using public funding to build housing for the elderly and the infirm brought in from outside of Wales.
- Despite the recommendations of the Notional Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee social housing providers are still diversifying through unaccountable subsidiaries. This results, for example, in the insane situation in Pembrokeshire where The Pembrokeshire Housing Association is passing public money to its subsidiary, Mill Bay Homes for MBH to build houses for sale on the open market!
- Many Welsh housing associations lease or rent properties from companies based in tax havens. I explored this connection in Link Holdings (Gibraltar) Ltd. Yet no one in the ‘Welsh’ Government seems to care that Welsh social housing tenants could be living in properties owned by the Mafia, or ISIS.
- Housing associations form secretive and costly links with Third Sector and other bodies. Some of these links are of questionable legality, of dubious benefit to Wales, but always costly to the Welsh public purse.
- And that, perhaps, is the biggest worry of all. That no one with responsibility for overseeing social housing bodies, no one who funds them with hundreds of millions of pounds of public money, seems to care how they operate. It’s left to self-evaluation and self-appraisal – box-ticking exercises which of course never find any problems. So everybody’s happy!
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH
A taste for what follows may be obtained from the post Bits & Pieces of September 30th. Now here’s the latest:
Paul Diggory, the Chester-based former boss of ailing North Wales Housing, is now promoting himself – something he’s very good at – as a ‘housing and social enterprise freelance‘, which fits in nicely with his role as chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Wales.
Diggory gives us one of the two qualifications needed to run a Welsh housing association: either be English like him and the CEOs recently appointed to Valleys to Coast, Bron Afon and Hendre; or else have good links with the Labour Party, which accounts for the appointments of both Trivallis’ new £150,000 a year CEO and the new Board chair, Tracy Myhills, previously CEO at the Welsh Ambulance Trust. (How’d you like that on your CV!)
It should go without saying that if you’re English and a member or supporter of the Labour Party then you get to take your pick of which housing association you’d like to run. Being English but supporting some other party would be acceptable, but if you’re non-Labour Welsh, forget it.
This is how a one-party state operates.
Staying in the north for a minute . . . Not so long ago Labour’s most favoured housing association, Wales & West, built a big new office building in Ewloe, Flintshire, very close to the border.
Many thought at the time that a Cardiff-based housing association might be over-extending itself with this office block, but no, for since then W&W has not only swallowed up Cantref of Castell Newydd Emlyn, and branched out into Ceredigion, but is also hovering, vulture-like, over ailing HAs across the land.
One housing association viewed as sickly and about to fall is Pennaf. The Pennaf Group is based in Llanelwy (St Asaph) and includes the Clwyd Alyn housing association and Offa, a lettings and management service. A northern source tells me that a couple of factors may be contributing to make Pennaf look a tasty dish.
First, CEO Graham Worthington – also based in Chester! – has just announced his retirement; plus, it seems that Pennaf has been tardy in bringing its 4,500 properties up to Welsh Housing Quality Standard, something it should have done by 2012.
The reason for Pennaf finding itself in this parlous position is I’m told due to spending too much time and money building care and residential homes – i.e. using Welsh public funding to bring in more retirees, so as to put extra strain on the NHS and social services that will result in education and other budgets being raided.
Only in Wales!
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WALES & WEST WAY OUT WEST AND WAY OUT OF LINE
I’ve just mentioned that Wales & West snaffled up Cantref of Castell Newydd Emlyn, which operated mainly in Ceredigion, but W&W is also branching out in other ways.
When the ‘Welsh’ Labour Government handed Cantref over to Wales and West part of the dowry was valuable land at Plas Morolwg in Aberystwyth, overlooking the marina and with nice views out to sea. That site is now earmarked for 60 extra care flats. It’s doubtful if Ceredigion needs this development, certainly, it’s suggested that if it goes ahead it will jeopardise Mid Wales Housing’s Cylch Caron project in Tregaron.
But things are never that simple in Ceredigion.
Ceredigion council’s leader, Ellen ap Gwynn of Plaid Cymru, is under intense pressure over the closure of the Bodlondeb care home in Aberystwyth. Motivated by nothing more than a deep and heartfelt concern for the old biddies therein Labour and Lib Dems have taken to protesting against the closure, even recruiting that one-boy rent-a-mob and self-promoting little shite, Owen Jones.
It is further suggested that certain council officials such as strategy officers and planners who – how can I put this? – whose first spoonful might not have been puréed laverbread, are bending over backwards to help an anti-Welsh organisation like Wales & West.
An unholy alliance of Plaid Cymru and Welsh-haters.
Let’s now turn our attention to Lampeter, where Wales and West is very active, and plans yet more expansion. What follows is information for which I offer thanks to someone obviously well-informed about council business.
To begin with, there are widespread concerns in Lampeter that Wales & West is failing to evict its drug-dealing tenants in Bryn Road and North Road. But things are almost certainly going to get worse, for W&W is said to be in the process of buying the old Ffynnonbedr school building in order to build yet more flats in an area of low need. So Lampeter can expect more drug addicts to arrive. Lucky Lampeter!
UPDATE 08.11.2017: A pre-planning consultation notice appeared on the door of the old Ffynnonbedr school today. The architect Geraint John of Cardiff is making the planning statement/application in the name of Hacer Developments of Swansea.
This document – at 5.5 and 5.6 – makes great play of an agreement between Ceredigion council and Cantref in the early part of 2016 and seems to suggest that Cantref is the client. But of course Cantref was taken over by Wales & West over a year ago, but I can find no mention of Wales & West. Understandable given the drug dealers and others W&W has already brought into the town.
As if that wasn’t worrying enough for the good people of Lambed, I hear from a former weekend soldier that the old Territorial Army building – also on Bryn Road – is up for sale, and word is that W&W want to buy this as well. But I bet you’d guessed that already!
I’ve mentioned that Wales & West refuses to evict its lucrative drug-dealing tenants in Lampeter, and for this it has been congratulated by fellow Labour Party members in Shelter Cymru. Mutual back-scratching among Labour-run Third Sector bodies is so prevalent and blatant that they even try to make a virtue of it.
Elsewhere the tale of evictions is different. For back in Aberystwyth, mainly local 16- and 17-year-olds are being evicted from Wales & West’s Tŷ Curig hostel . . . to make way for new ‘guests’. Most of these replacements will arrive burdened with ‘issues’, but it is these very ‘issues’ that will allow W&W to charge a hefty fee for housing them – leaving the rest of us to pick up the bill.
Before leaving Wales & West for a moment I should also point out that the new office building wasn’t restricted to Ewloe, for there’s also the new HQ in Cardiff. This too may be in anticipation of expansion, with one of the potential victims rumoured to be Cardiff Community Housing Association, where CEO Kevin Protheroe is about to retire.
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WHY DO I SAY ‘ANTI-WELSH’?
I try to be careful in using the right word, and that’s why I have no hesitation in describing Wales & West Housing – and others I’ll soon mention – as anti-Welsh.
Non-Welsh or un-Welsh might imply someone or something having nothing to do with Wales; it might suggest ignorance of Wales’ distinctiveness, possibly ambivalence; but by using anti-Welsh I mean awareness of the Welsh language, and other things that make Wales different, but deliberately seeking to denigrate and undermine them. This certainly applies to Wales & West, which is why I describe W&W as anti-Welsh.
Let’s start with the W&W website – it’s in English only. As is the website of another Labour-run housing association I’ve mentioned, Trivallis (formerly RCT Homes). This is no accident, for when it comes to the Welsh language most Labour Party members and supporters agree with Neil Kinnock rather than with Carwyn Jones.
Other HAs – Bro Myrddin, for example – rely on Google Translate. The CEO at Bro Myrddin is Hilary Jones, said to be an ‘ally’ of W&W, who is rumoured to be taking an interest in Hafan Cymru, reported to be in serious trouble due to its over-reliance on the Supporting People programme and EU funding.
But the point is that all Registered Social Landlords are legally required to give equal status to both languages, and also to have a Welsh language scheme in place. But the Regulation Managers employed to enforce these requirements obviously aren’t up to the job (or maybe they too missed out on the puréed laverbread).
Or does the fault lie with those above them? I ask because this recent advertisement for a Regulation Manager bizarrely and confusingly talks of “capability to work in both English and Welsh” but then says that Welsh is “not necessary“!
This seems to be a case of going through the motions: ‘Look, we’ve got to say this about the Welsh language . . . but in practice it doesn’t really mean anything‘.
A concrete example of Wales and West’s contempt for the Welsh language came recently with its advertisement for a Development Officer in Newcastle Emlyn, with the advertisement in English only and no requirement to speak Welsh in an area where Welsh is widely spoken. Welsh is certainly the majority language among the native Welsh.
This advertisement is not an oversight, nor is the absence of a Welsh website. This is flaunting power. This is a bunch of Labour bigots, with the ‘Welsh’ Government behind them saying, ‘Fuck you, and your language!‘
How will this attitude contribute to Carwyn Jones’ one million Welsh speakers by 2050?
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IMAGE CONFLICTING WITH REALITY
We are encouraged to think of housing associations as streamlined, twenty-first century replacements for the old local authority housing departments, but doing a much better job. In fact, they have so little in common that any comparison is invalid.
To begin with, councils operate within defined geographical areas, whereas housing associations are spread all over the country competing with each other and duplicating each other’s work. Competition and duplication that places a wholly unnecessary burden on the public purse.
This has obviously been realised, and the problem is being addressed by encouraging those housing associations that are most ‘reliable’ from a Labour Party perspective – which also happen to be the least Welsh in staff and attitudes – to expand and take over the others. Which has two main results.
One, it increases Labour Party influence in areas of Wales where the party has no MPs or AMs. Two, it encourages instinctively anti-Welsh organisations to expand into areas where the Welsh language is strong. Good for the Labour Party but a disaster for the Welsh language and for Wales
Another difference is that local authority housing departments would never have struck deals with outside agencies to import someone else’s criminals, paedophiles, drug addicts, problem families, etc. The reason being that councils had that link with their patch, that commitment to their people, and of course councillors needed to be re-elected. With housing associations such considerations and restraints are absent.
For housing associations are distant bodies, answerable to nobody, and can do what they damn well like. And because there’s little profit to be made from housing decent, law-abiding locals, but lots of money available if they inflict problems on small Welsh towns like Lampeter, that’s the model they follow.
And while there are healthy profits for Wales & West and others from importing undesirables, once here they place an inevitable burden on local health and other services, and police resources, while causing misery and disruption to Welsh communities. In a different category, but having a similar effect on the Welsh public purse, are the retirees being brought into Wales, and this is no longer confined to the Costa Geriatrica.
All of which results in the Welsh public purse, which funds W&W and the rest of them, losing out again, and again, and again. And we are the public purse, you and I. It is we who lose out in having to endure inferior facilities and strained resources.
But the model followed by Wales & West is profitable. And the profits made, coupled with ‘Welsh’ Labour backing, allow W&W to undermine and then swallow up their smaller and weaker brethren, which will include responsible social housing providers sticking to what should be the role of housing associations – providing rented housing for local people.
And some day in the not-too-distant future, when towns like Lampeter and Aberystwyth are awash with drug addicts and criminals from God knows where, and there are only a few housing associations left standing, the ‘Welsh’ Labour Party will control them all.
Allowing ‘Welsh’ Labour, through its housing associations and other Third Sector bodies, to exert a control over Wales denied it by the ballot box. We shall have arrived at the one-party state.
Endgame.
♦ end ♦
It refers to the 1st Mersey-Dee LDP after its formation; the plan was accepted by the Senedd but dropped by all concerned after huge protests and a 24,000-signature petition, which you will be aware of. The 11-out-of-13 figure is referenced in the Defro’r Ddraig website at:
http://deffrorddraig.cymru/west-cheshire/the-plan/
This was the infamous ‘West Cheshire/North East Wales Sub-Regional Strategy.
Although this is old news, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Welsh Government actually sanctioned it before it was dropped. The plan advocated 323,000 new homes in North East Wales (for Cheshire commuters working in Cheshire or Merseyside presumably). The revised figure after the protests is 190,000 new homes – still far in excess of the housing needs of North Walians.
Cymru Sofren (Sovereign Wales) have argued that such cross-border LDPs are illegal, since the Welsh Government’s remit is restricted to Wales and does not include West Cheshire or Merseyside.
I should have remembered because of course Pol told me, but I’d forgotten the details.
Has anyone brought this issue of prioritising dysfunctional English social-housing-seekers to the attention of their own local AM with the aim of pushing for parity with Scotland in terms of control over housing allocation? Or would that be a waste of time?
Presumably, this is an issue that will figure in the new party’s manifesto.
Will the new party also be campaigning for and end to EnglandandWales-style local development plans to control the building of unwanted homes in Wales in the private housebuilding sector? We all know which country most of the purchasers of such housing come from. Cheshire and Merseyside came up with thirteen sites for housebuilding in their ‘area’; eleven of them were in North Wales, in small towns and villages were there was no noticeable local housing need.
Have you got a link for “Cheshire and Merseyside came up with thirteen sites for housebuilding in their ‘area’; eleven of them were in North Wales, in small towns and villages were there was no noticeable local housing need.”
you are right, it is horrific and nobody is speaking out. The population of Wales is being changed by demographic engineering to concrete in the Labour stranglehold. I have met the donkey voters. Donkeys and turkeys. I also have seen the power of property developers and housing associations riding on the mushy corruption and brain deadness of Labour in office, I am feeling helpless sorry, not my usual self. It’s not just about one party being rubbish, it goes deeper than that. I know what is needed, but getting the vision out there is not happening.
responding to drsallybaker, 06.35 today 12/11. I was using “aggrieved blokes” just to reinforce the stupidity of the posturing going on right now. I’m reading all sorts of shite on assorted sites and other media and getting an increasing feeling that while this distraction is going on some other monumental fuck up is being ushered quietly by without us dunces spotting it. People say that I’m paranoid but they don’t understand a highly developed sense of awareness, a deep suspicion of people(men and women)in public office or in higher reaches of business, indeed any kind of formal organisation.
I loved Brychan’s earlier note (18.45 on 11/11)about the left-right dichotomy and how downright irrelevant it is, especially when you have a political class full of lying, cheating wasters for whom a spot of touching up ( boys and girls ! ) represents a nice change from the grind of fiddling expenses, taking backhanders, and pandering to vested interests in all sorts of deviant ways. And so many of these shits end up on an Honours list – they ought to be on a sentencing list !
http://www.gardenerschat-shed.net/forum/Smileys/aaron/clap.gif
I agree totally Dafis; I did understand what you were trying to get at, but I wanted to make my contribution because this hysteria is getting feminism a very bad name – it isn’t feminism, it is sheer naked opportunism…
This should interest you.
The case is horrific Jac, I am so glad to see that Sian Caiach is still highlighting injustice and abuse of power, particularly after she came under fire from the medical establishment for daring to do so years ago. No-one who has not witnessed these cases at first hand could ever believe what is going on.
A blogger in the north of England, Finola Moss, has looked at a lot of these cases after her own daughter was abducted and abused by social workers working for the local authority. Finola stresses that these young people with learning disabilities are being placed against their wishes in privately run ‘hospitals’ – where care is often very poor and where some of them have died – which are charging thousands of pounds a week for this ‘care’. Like other trades in distressed people it is big business. A similar process is happening with the placing of vulnerable young women who have young babies in ‘assessment centres’ – even the Tory rag the Daily Mail managed to publish an expose which revealed that one such ‘centre’ recommended the removal and adoption of every baby of every mother that was being ‘assessed’. Money was changing hands…
One chain of private hospitals involved in the gruesome business of ‘treating’ ‘resistant service users’ (for the fee of many thousands a week) is Cygnet. The medical director of Cygnet is one Dr Robert Francis Kehoe. He was hired as an expert witness in a case involving me some ten years ago. Kehoe lied in his report and I was able to demonstrate that he had lied. No action was taken against him. Kehoe is still practicing as an expert witness – he’s got as far as Harley Street now and is a very rich man indeed. Cygnet are an American company that have identified ‘new markets’ in the UK. There have already been some high profile scandals at Cygnet hospitals.
Bit of a diversion from the subject matter of this article, but Andrew RT Davies has written excellent letters calling for an independent inquiry into the Sargeant affair and into the culture of bullying in the WAG alleged by Leighton Andrews, and occuring over a number of years in the last term of the Assembly. It’s compelling stuff. The question in my mind though is, “are Plaid supporting such a request?” Because if you look on Leanne’s Twitter or that of the Party itself, you’ll be left wondering if Carwyn even made that speech yesterday. Behind the ball, as usual.
Carwyn is looking increasingly vulnerable. He might have been able to ride out the storm if Labour was united behind him, but as we know, they’re not. It would be somehow fitting if he had more support from Plaid than from his own party.
Solicitors for the Sargeant family going on-air within the hour according to Adrian Masters, and I read that the bullying claims by Andrews were raised by other Ministers and Carwyn did next to nothing. He may need some loyal wimmin to keep him afloat, just so long as he doesn’t hold on to any sensitive parts.
His only sensitive part is his ego. Nothing much penetrates his rhino hide, yet he started blubbing like a big baby when he briefly thought his treasured job was going to be taken from him in 2016.
As I commented earlier I think he’s increasingly showing signs of a ‘dead man walking’.
Don’t worry – Leanne is riding to the rescue!
FFS! Has anyone checked if she’s a card carrying member of the Labour Party?
Leanne also said according to that BBC report “My message to anyone who comes forward to Plaid Cymru with concerns or disclosures about harassment is – we will take you seriously, we will support you and we will take appropriate steps to ensure that complaints are investigated thoroughly and fairly.”
So far, so mediocre. But the BBC failed to report the last few words which were something along the lines of “as long as you are a member of, or willing to sign up to, the Wimmin in any kind of imagined distress movement, but don’t F***in’ bother if you are an aggrieved bloke, cos we got no time for those wasters, see”
There’s a lot of distressed Labour Wimmin in these parts. Every time they look in a mirror, lots of them.
Sorry about that late night misogyny, Jac. But if you need
photographic evidence………….
Stan, I know what you’re talking about.
Few things amuse me more than some creature with a shaven head, covered in tattoos, and built like a prop forward, complaining about being molested by men. Not in your wildest dreams, sister!
It’s not so much that they’re ignoring distressed blokes Dafis, they are ignoring the distress of anyone who if the roots of the distress were to be exposed would damage them politically. Huge swathes of the Tory Party, Labour Party, Plaid and Lib Dems colluded with the abuse of children in care and still are colluding. Such abuse took place across the UK, but for the readers of Jac’s blog I guess the most salient abuse scandal was the North Wales Child Abuse Scandal. Dreadful cruelty meted out to kids over decades, kids trafficked into child prostitution etc. Collusion with all welfare agencies and the Third sector as well. All parties colluded, absolutely all of them.
Many of those who were directly told are today sitting in the Senedd, in the Commons and in the Lords. That’s why absolutely none of the big child abuse enquiries are getting anywhere. It’s also why the mental health services are so bad and nothing seems to fix them – psychiatry was used to conceal the abuse (kids who complained were diagnosed as psychotic) and it meant for a completely rotten culture that still exists today. It has infected the NHS – an institution that simply cannot be beaten for institutional corruption, research fraud and self-interest – and no-one dares admit what is going on and how bad it is, absolutely no-one.
So I’m sitting here waiting for the next kids-in-care grooming and trafficking scandal and the next Mid-Staffs (although there’s one of those right now in north Wales). It’ll happen. And we’ll be faced with vacuous empty headed hand wringing politicians/NHS leaders/social services managers banging on about how did this happen, we never knew, never again etc. Whilst they ignored desperate correspondence from ‘service users’ begging for help…
Sickening isn’t it? An unashamed attempt at projecting Plaid as a fair and caring party – it’s called clambering up the ladder to get a foothold on the moral high ground – in the hope of making your party popular. Now who’s taking advantage of an opportunity to gain from a sad situation?
Nice ‘touchy feely’ Plaid innit – until someone in their own ranks exposes a problem like in migration or colonisation – or even the independence issue. And God help any male within the party that gets accused of bullying a poor inocent female member (Mr. McEvoy jumps to mind).
Hypocritical drivel, made worse when it exposes her luvvy-duvvy connection with Charismatic Carwyn and the British Labour Party (cos a Welsh one doesn’t exist).
I fear the lovely Leanne is a closet Labourite – she hasn’t really grown out of the habit of supporting Labour, which is a tradition where she comes from. Leopards & spots seems to ring a bell in my head
Just a technical point Big Gee. I have just used the Sort By facility on this blog {Newest / Oldest}. Very useful. I wonder how many blog users are aware of it. Text rather faint so almost found it by accident.
Yes it is a handy option Wynne – depending on how you like the comments displayed i.e. oldest first scrolling down to the newest or visa versa.
I have to admit it is a little hidden, and not readily observed by some who are not familiar with our layout.
Unfortunately there’s not much I can do about it, because it’s a built in feature of the ‘editor’ software. There’s a choice of editors that can be used, some are better than others – you’ll have noticed that this is the second editor that’s been used by the blog, and I think it’s better than the original, it’s a case of ‘good better, best’. If Jac has a mind to change it then he can have a word with his IT department of one!
Since the little chat I had with Stan on here recently, I have been toying with the idea of setting up a ‘Help’ page with a link to it from the side panel. We’ll see what the future brings.
Anyone who has a technical query, or would like help with features of the blog, they are welcome to contact me directly via the ‘contact form’ on the blog – it will get re-directed to me.
I hope that helps.
Yes, thanks Big Gee. I assumed you were the one man technical department !
Thank you that contribution, Big Gee. I know of no other Wales blog as popular as this one in terms of its responses. I think if you can ever get around to publishing a “Help” guide it will assist many of us because clearly there are a lot of facilities available to contributors that we are not using. In the meantime I suspect I may take you up on the e-mail offer sooner rather than later.
Article on n.c as well. Leads with paying respect to Carl Sargeant before turning into an article about sexual harassment. Have I missed something? Or is this another case of far right terror in Barcelona?
O/T (somewhat):
RIP John Albert Jones, patriot, one of the ‘Tryweryn 3’:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/41930920
(Nothing mentioned on the BBC’s ‘English Cause’, of course. Such things are why most people in this country are ignorant of their history).
Hedd i’w lwch.
at least BBC appear to have beaten Golwg to the news. Even Llais y Sais got there. Anyway few will write a tribute to do justice to this man. All causes have their quiet men, and J.A was just that, carried a load at a key time and set lots of things in motion. Read about him in Owain’s book and nice words today from Emyr Llew who could always distinguish a real gem from a wanker.
Shame those fakes down the Bay don’t draw inspiration from men like this. RIP.
Back in the ’60s everything seemed possible, everything was questioned, all options were considered, there was real optimism – even Plaid Cymru believed in independence. But after the initial shock, England recovered and began turning the screw, to the point where we are expected to be satisfied with a powerless Assembly run by weaklings and incompetents.
What really frightened the establishment back then was not Plaid Cymru or Cymdeithas yr Iaith – the leaderships of both could be bought off – it was that Welshmen were prepared to use explosives and other means to defend our national interests and demand that we be respected. But over and above the the bombings what really, really worried our masters was the widespread support for the FWA and MAC. Welsh people knew why they they doing these things – and they supported them. Many took pride in them.
It was the same with the Meibion Glyndŵr. I remember a survey done by HTV that found a majority of people in the areas most affected by holiday homes supported the campaign. Not only that, MG was getting publicity in England, and deterring people from buying holiday homes, or moving to Wales. That combination really worried our masters.
That’s because, so often, it’s not the acts themselves that cause rulers to quake, it’s the effect those acts have upon the population at large. Which of course those committing the acts understand equally well. What the three did at Tryweryn, and indeed the less celebrated action of Dai Pritchard and Dai Walters, falls into that category of being dangerously inspirational.
An understanding of what’s going on, and why, can reach almost everybody, as I learnt in a little scene I shall never forget.
In the 1980s and early ’90s I was in Y Cyfamodwyr until it was destroyed by the arrests of three of our members. I remember being in Holyhead for a court hearing of the three. I was wandering around the back of the court having a smoke when an old woman came shuffling towards me weighed down with two shopping bags. As she drew level she nodded towards the court and just said, ‘Hogia Ni?‘ (Our Boys? Hogia Ni being the name of a song.)
This is what its all about: adapting, moves and counter moves. I think this is ultimately the weakness of Plaid… its failed to adapt to changing situations. When Labour picked up support for the Welsh language Plaid were left standing there with their pants down and they’ve been shuffling along ever since.
Shows how a regional issue can become national if people can relate to the message. Brings me back to my naming suggestion a few weeks ago!
Its really up to Welsh nationalism to make the next move – which is why if a new political party does arise it should do all it can to be different from anything Westminster has dealt with before.
EXACTLY CambroUiDunlainge! The operative word is DIFFERENT. It knocks everyone off balance. It’s something I’ve repeated on here several times. It has to think laterally outside of the box. Be able to kick all the old party politics into touch and appeal to those who have turned their backs on the old regimes, but who still have genuine gripes and need fresh, transparent, free speaking representation that is not enslaved to the old and not fit for purpose politics of yesterday.
Starting with the dropping of these pigeon-hole labels like left, centre & right. It’s time to bin that crap, and start afresh, or be hamstrung by attaching itself to the old way of thinking.
Indeed. I’d even go as far as to say the same about labels like Nationalist and Socialist in the party name. Let its policies define it.
On the subject of naming I suggested “Rebecca” for many reasons I’m sure you can imagine (not to mention an opportunity for theatrics) but also the fact its the same in Welsh and English. I’ve always felt the bilingual party names show a divided people… having something the same in both languages that holds a deeper meaner has a feel of one cause, one people.
The idea of ‘left’ and ‘right’ was born in France, according to which side of the Assemblée Nationale people sat on in the revolutionary period of the late 18th century – absolutely nothing else – just the way people chose to sit! On the 23rd of April and the 7 of May this year, it died there, as it has been dying in other nations. Although Macron was elected for reasons other than his ‘not left, not right’ mantra – he was actually elected with huge support behind the scenes from the EU ‘grey suits’ as a panic had set in.
This shows that we are moving into a period of Syncretic politics, where both (so-called) left- right politics are viewed as enemies of the people. It also highlights that the whole concept of the single axis, ‘right – centre – left’ is actually dying, but kept breathing by the old guard establishment and their mouthpieces – the ‘mainstream’ media. People are wailing for something different.
If you don’t understand what ‘syncretic politics’ are just look up Peronism (founded by Juan Peron in Argentina) or very recently the Pirate party of Iceland and others in places like Hungary. In Hungary there has been a strong presence of syncretic political parties forming there since the revolutions of 1989. All classic examples of common sense mixed in with lateral thinking and and an urge to drop the old conventions within politics – supporters of which try to discredit this phenomenon with further negatively projected labels like ‘Populism’ (in fact the directory description of populism is “support for the concerns of ordinary people”) – go figure.
We are without doubt on the threshold of a syncretic politics explosion, but it’s not a new concept, just that it’s been muffled for the benefit of old guard establishment politicians and their mainstream (false) news generators.
Syncretic politics also has strong ties with Libertarianism (not to be confused with Liberalism!), Nationalism, and an anti imperialist struggle against the established colonial powers – in our case England. It also strongly opposes elitism and the hideously rich globalists. Sounds good to me!
Your view that an eventual name for our proposed new party should be simple, (possibly only one or two worded) which means the same in the languages of the British Isles – and conveys it’s purposes/ goals and doesn’t nail it to the stupid single axis political grouping makes good sense CambroUiDunlainge.
Lots to discuss on the 18th methinks!
When I call for the re-nationaisation of the railways they call me left wing. When I call for stiffer sentences for drug dealing they call me right wing. When I call for protecting GP surgeries from cuts they call me left wing. When I call for the right of working class people to buy ownership of social housing they call me right wing. The thing is, when I call for Welsh independence, they call me dangerous.
Post of the Year, IMHO.
You’ve condensed my arguments for the binning of these silly labels perfectly Brychan! Even the bit about independence is spot-on (and very amusing) – they haven’t found a label for that one yet!
I agree with Stan – a good candidate for a blog award 😉
Nicely put.
Alas as I’m sure you’re aware by now not a lot I’d disagree with there!
I don’t think people realise the control that the English Labour Party have over their bruvvers in Cardiff.
A lot of the imported CEO’s will have come as a result of a wink and a nudge from somewhere across the border.
There may well be a similar tactic involved in the export of problem families from marginal seats in England into Labour loving Wales.
Generalised ramblings about the process and the result are all very well and good, but until you can pin down the exact chain of events by which this happens you’re just shouting in the wind.
For example: did we ever find out by what mechanism exactly the Kidwelly group all managed to get housing association homes within a condom’s throw of each other?
Who ‘suggested’ they move to Wales? Had they ever heard of Kidwelly before they moved? Was there an application process? Who approved the application and why? Was anybody paid any money as any part of this process? Who paid their moving expenses? etc etc.
‘Shouting in the wind’! Moi! How dare you, sir!
But of course you have a point. The problem being that the information isn’t available; a) because housing associations aren’t covered by the FoI legislation, and b) nobody’s talking, which is perfectly understandable.
As for Kidwelly, we must assume that they came as a job lot, partly because they were housed as a group (at the end of a cul-de-sac), and also because they knew each other in London. Yet somebody at this end agreed to take these bastards. Whoever made that decision ruined a lot of young lives and should be punished. That’s one curious feature of the case; despite all the coverage, our wonderful ‘Welsh’ media had no interest in learning by route route they’d arrived in Kidwelly.
You also mention the control the Labour Party has over the bruvvers down by ‘ere. So this might interest you, it concerns Louise Magee, who is the general secretary of ‘Welsh’ Labour. You’ll see that her Twitter profile tells us she’s based in London.
While her Linkedin profile tells us that she’s a ‘Regional Director’ for the Labour Party. The only conclusion to draw is that Wales is a region of the British or UK Labour Party. Therefore there is no ‘Welsh Labour Party’.
Will you be in Aber’ for the meeting on the 18th, or will I see at Cilmeri?
I came across the above link this week which is to the Labour Party Rules 2017. (Hope I have linked OK using the menu). On page 1, para D of the Rules it states a Wales Labour may be set up. Its status seems to be no higher than a regional body of Labour within England and it also suggests to me “Welsh” Labour is not an actual dog itself, but could be a flea on it, I suppose.
It does work, but it’s a bit long.
I really need to go on one of Big Gee’s courses if he ever runs one.
Does this link to the Labour Party 2017 Rules work?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6GtYu9coM3zeVZYTkRNVDlfaTg/view
This also works.
“Welsh” Louise seems to have changed her twitter attribution to Cardiff now.
Though the electoral roll has her and her husband living in Surrey
Not only has she changed her location to Cardiff but she’s come over all shy! Ahhh
Understandable, perhaps, for it’s alleged that Louise had a role in the squalid treatment of Carl Sargeant.
Anyone who did time working for Sadiq has to be suspect. She will have demonstrated deep but passing interest in all sorts of fashionable causes and ishoos. Probably scoffed organic lentils and drunk unpasteurised goat’s piss with all those on-message pseudo socialists hovering around the Bay.
Her profile picture leads you to think that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. There again the most colourful but deadly coral snakes have a bite that can kill in under 10 seconds!
Quoting FoI legislation regarding housing associations and the fact that nobody’s talking is a bit evasive.
I bet there are local people, victims of the offenders, disgruntled employees and politicians of various colours who know quite a lot about this, but they’ve never been asked.
Even the defendants in the case may be willing to speak out.
I would also guess that there were other agencies involved that must respond to FoI requests. Start by putting in a request to the Boys in the Bay.
If they don’t respond I’m sure there’s a few politicians from Plaid, the Tories and even UKIP who would love to embarrass the Labour group on one of its core policies.
In general terms you will not get much response to complaints about problematic immigration from the Welsh establishment, but here you have a golden opportunity to open Pandora’s box.
You just need to use your journalistic expertise and contacts to exploit it.
A newsworthy problem that made the headlines across the UK, and beyond, with a massive gap in the information that was provided, and undertones of sex and political intrigue should be meat and drink to an investigative reporter, and the public interest cannot be denied or dismissed as ‘racist’.
Perhaps your old friend Martin Shipton might be interested?
Obviously, at your age, you couldn’t investigate this at grass roots level yourself, but if you could find a few relevant bits of info, or possible contacts, it might provide the trail of breadcrumbs to lead a new inquiry.
I suppose at the end of the day it all depends whether or not you actually want to solve the problem or just keep writing about it.
“At my age”! “At my age”!! I thought I knew who you were, now I’m not so sure.
I will just deal with your final paragraph. Yes, I want to put an end to the dumping taking place, and I would love to know all the mechanisms by which it happens, though I’m not entirely ignorant of the processes. For example, the probation services are often involved. In other cases, it’s a straight deal between a housing association in England and one in Wales. At other times homelessness charities and other agencies facilitate the move.
But as I’ve explained, no one involved wants to talk and the information needed is not publicly available. In addition, the people moved around within the system don’t fully understand the system’s workings.
But at the end of the day, it happens, we know it happens. And even if I can’t uncover every nut and bolt of the system I’m still having an effect. I know that because I see the reduced funding to organisations I’ve highlighted, and I’ve seen changes introduced in the running of housing association. So I am not howling in the void.
Let’s have some constructive suggestions from you.
“Let’s have some constructive suggestions from you.”
I thought questioning people at grass roots level, instead of railing about uncooperative, self-interested commercial interests, was constructive.
Obviously not.
Who exactly are you referring to with, “people at grass roots level”?
that Twitter exchange ( of yesterday?) regarding the passing of Carl Sargeant caught my eye. Evidently Ms Wood could not bring herself to completely let go of her blind loyalty to a “cause” and give a more wholehearted view of a politician who would have been a bosom ally only weeks ago.
We are now in the dark – The deceased may have been guilty, may have been innocent, or may have been guilty of some lesser offences inflated by the rush to accuse stimulated by sensationalist press/media coverage since the dirty old man from Hollywood tossed a huge pebble into the pond of gutter behaviours a few weeks ago.
Now that he is no longer around to answer the charges it becomes even more important that the content of the accusations are closely inspected. Already there are rumblings that the matter may go no further,but far from it this should now be the cue to open all sorts of cans of worms in that Bay Bubble. There are people who may have been seen as victims in the context of current accusations and investigations, whose actions in other spheres of activity might attract closer scrutiny. Or is touching up and other sexual antics the only flavours of this season ?
What about the other deviant, fraudulent or corrupt antics committed by elements of the Bay “community”. Business deals – one “multiparty” crew recently mentioned in a highly compromised situation – with bags of scope for even more unsavoury revelations if someone in authority gets off his ass to do a bit of digging. Though as things look at the moment he may not get off his ass since it would expose it to a good kicking!
A lasting monument to Carl Sargeant would be to flush out the rapidly growing pigpen down the Bay to bring discipline back into the conduct of A.M’s and all those “professions” that operate in their orbit.
The more information that comes out, the more contributions that are made by other politicians, the more I suspect that – poor Carl Sargeant apart – the big loser could be Carwyn Jones and the ‘feminist’ (I use the term loosely) lobby trying to suggest that saying ‘Hello’ is some form of molestation.
If Jones is replaced by someone less supportive of devolution and of devolving more powers, someone less favourable to the Welsh language, someone more attuned to the thinking of Labour MPs, then the political ramifications could be considerable.
That would be interesting in a weird sort of way. CJ is surrounded by people whose greyness rivals, possibly exceeds, that of the Plaid front rank. The prospect of one of those dull creeps rising to be First Minister in the event of CJ falling off his perch would induce deep,deep slumber. Drakeford, Gehting, Griffiths et al = a chorus of flat notes.
Drakeford and Griffiths are much much worse than flat notes Dafis – they ignored the desperate pleas of mental health patients in north Wales who were being abused, until the time bomb exploded on Drakeford’s watch in the form of Tawel Fan. That bomb had been ticking away for years and it was ignored by everyone but Edwina Hart – who was removed from her job when she had the guts to challenge institutional corruption in the NHS.
Judging by the way the vultures are circling, I believe it’s not a question of ‘IF’ Charismatic Carwyn falls but ‘WHEN’.
Amazing how a previous solicitor could fall so easily into this bear trap, without realising the potential for disaster. The smell of blood is strong, and the media vultures are licking their lips because they sense he has fatally wounded himself. I notice that the ‘Nasty Party’ along with the ‘Kippers’ are starting to form into an attack formation. A less ‘Welshie’ Labour leader would suit their desires down to the ground.
Charismatic Carwyn is an absolutely boring and unimaginative chump with a procrastination problem when it comes to leading the Bay Parliament, however I do believe that he is more sympathetic in his heart of hearts towards Y Cymry than the majority of the others down the ‘Bay’. Better the devil you know?
Interesting times. With traditional time served ways of doing political things collapsing both here and in Westminster, (not to mention in other countries – not least Catalunya – notice the recent media blackout of what’s currently going on there?). The time is ripe to come up with something completely different, outside the box and totally lateral in it’s thinking.
Bring it on when we meet on the glorious 18th!
In my opinion Carwyn’s fatal error has been giving interviews since he suspended Sargeant and being prepared to discuss the case, even letting further information into the public domain. I read elsewhere today that as a barrister he was regarded as far from the brightest star in the heavens and seeing his plodding performances as FM I can well believe it.
Given his legal training it’s astonishing he didn’t shut up shop as soon as Sargeant was facing an investigation. Contrast this with the case of Lord Prescott’s boy, David who many people do not yet realise has been suspended. When questioned about it the same Labour Party said, “We do not comment on individual cases”. Yes, tongues will still wag, people will draw conclusions, but at least those in charge cannot be accused of saying something that might prejudice the case in some way. Unlike that idiot we have in charge in Wales.
Completely overlooked the boy Skates ! He’s a real useless piece of human camo, blending in like the proverbial chameleon and popping out when a sound bite is needed or a ribbon needs cutting. CJ was grooming him for succession but in 5 years not 5 days !
Ken ‘Flint Ring’ Skates would be ideal.
Jac – the biggest irony of all is that Carl Sargeant was one of the few (although I do know of two others as well) AMs/MPs representing North Wales constituencies whom I never heard associated with any attempt at all to conceal the problems in the north Wales NHS or the legacy of the paedophile ring in north Wales which was covered up by the Waterhouse Inquiry. Very few of them have hands as clean as Carl Sargeant.
Lesley Griffiths and Ken Skates issued a joint statement telling us all how sad they were about Carl’s death. Griffiths is a former Councillor for Wrexham none of whom – with the exception of Malcolm King – challenged the abuse of kids which was taking place on their doorstep. When she was Health Minister she completely ignored communications from patients informing her of the most serious abuses in the north Wales NHS. Skates grew up in Wrexham, worked as a journo on the local paper which ignored the child abuse scandal and ingratiated himself to the local Councillors to get where he is today. Like Griffiths those Councillors were people who had colluded with and remained silent about the child abuse.
Cardiff Bay is in a very sorry state. The place is full of civil servants and politicians who got where they are today by colluding with the criminal activities in the welfare services in north Wales which were the legacy of the child abuse scandal. The Assembly has now lost one of the few who were not involved.
Favourable.
You could be right, but a lot will depend on how others react to such a change.
One thing is clear is that Carwyn Jones has been mortally wounded, a kind of slippery animal who ducks away from issues in the Senedd chamber, ineffective over major issues such as Brexit and often passes off difficult issues to others, as he’s demonstrated in the Carl Sergent affair by offloading it to party hacks in London.
I suspect the ideal candidate for Labour to nominate for First Minister will be Mike Hedges AM. He is considered to be ‘on the left’ so will lap up trade union support as well as ‘momentum’. Uniquely, he’s also a working class man who very much shuns the middle class latte set for Cardiff Bay. A recent member of both the Finance Committee and Public Accounts Committee he has demonstrated that he’s adept at cutting through the bullshit, giving short shrift to the career ombudsmen and lobby consultant types. However, he’s more of an aging affable geek, rather than an orator, which might work in his favour as he’s got to keep the likes of Kirsty and Dafydd El on side until the elections. On the subject of rampant anti-Welsh Housing Associations, I would expect Hedges to divert the public cash flow to local authorities for council housing and law-wise favour the last remaining small mutual co-operative institutions rather than the out of control conglomerates.
However, if language and devolution hating, shallow, self interested, teeth and suits, Mr Skates wins, I suspect there will be a bloodbath inside the Wales branch of the Labour Party. He’s a dodgy second hand car salesman who you wouldn’t offer a cup of tea in case he steels the china. A closed office wheeler and dealer likely to alienate those that Labour seek to seduce, but ticks all the right boxes for smoozing the latte set.
There’s no question that Skates represents the smooth-talking, skinny latte, slimeball, Blairite Labour Party. And as we’ve seen demonstrated with the Flint Ring and a couple of other examples he’s out of touch with issues of Welsh identification. Whether that’s through ignorance or hostility is not clear. But if a politician of his standing is still ignorant of Welsh issues then it suggests he doesn’t regard them as important.
Turning to Mike Hedges, let’s also remember that he spoke at the curious gathering a few weeks ago in Carmarthen, Welsh Labour for Independence, I believe it was called. Though he stressed that he himself was not in favour of independence. So why was he there?
I see a parallel here with Labour’s support for devolution in the 1990s. With the Tories in power since 1979 ‘Welsh’ Labour then found devolution to be very attractive. Now, with the Tories in power again and Labour unlikely to win an election under Corbyn; with the English working class – encouraged by Ukip and Brexit – turning to the right, with elements now prepared to be openly xenophobic (which many of them always were); and with the reduction in constituency numbers likely to hit Labour more than any other party, then the idea of a Wales independent, or with much more power, serving as Labour’s last fiefdom, is very attractive in certain quarters.
So much depends on Brexit and the Scottish reaction. Because if Brexit is the disaster many predict, and if Scotland votes Yes to independence at a second referendum, then there’ll be many in Labour who want independence or near as damn it to independence. They’ll argue that they’re acting in Wales’ best interests – and to an extent, that’ll be true – but the real motivation will be self-preservation.
But who cares how we get there? It’s the destination that’s important, not the route or the mode of transport.
Jac
I think your analysis of the current state of the Labour Party in England is missing a key element.
I agree Labour’s traditional working class voters in areas like the North of England are not natural “Cobynistas” . But during the last election I was amazed by how well his message went down with younger, better educated voters here in the South East, something reflected in Labour’s surprising performance.
For our generation, the thought of re nationalizing Gas or Rail is very much a return to the “bad old days”, but if your say 30 years old you don’t actually remember what the 1970’s was like, but you are fed up with ever increasing rail fairs and paying through the nose for gas so maybe nationalization is not a bad idea, especially when all anybody else is offering is essentially “more of the same”.
If your 30 years old and still stuck at Mum and Dad’s or part of “generation rent”, because despite earning £35,000 a year, you have no prospect of ever being able to afford a house within an hours commute of your job, then maybe the idea of 55% tax on earnings above £150,000 to pay for new social housing is not a bad one.
The traditional working class in England
(especially in the South East) are becoming fewer and fewer, and older an older. Boundary changes and demographics mean that future elections may well be won and lost in the South East; and from what I saw last time around I fear that we have all underestimated Corbyn and his mad mob, and that we may well end up with what would traditionally be called a “hard left” government made up of Labour, the SNP and maybe a few Plaid MP’s
At which point would the last person to leave the country please make sure they switch the lights off!!!
As to the comments re CS,Carwyn etc, it seems to me that the issue with Welsh labour both at a national and in many places a local level is that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. There has been no credible opposition to Labour in Wales for 100 years or so, and that does not lead to a healthy democracy.
You’re obviously right about many young people joining Labour due to Corbyn, but in terms of electoral support there are unlikely to be enough of them to replace the working class conservatives Corbyn alienates.
Labour is in danger of becoming a party of young activists, the chattering classes, the liberal middle class and ethic minorities. Trying to copy the Democrats in the USA but without the percentages.
You mention the railways, well I would welcome the renationalisation of the railways. The breaking up of a coherent and integrated network and replacing it with a disjointed system of competing franchises offering 97 different fares from A to B is a disaster. We have the most inefficient and expensive rail system in the advanced world.
My view is that certain assets and industries should always be state controlled, and the railway system is one of them.
Although I instinctively favour private enterprise, here in Wales I would support a Welsh government controlling many sectors until an indigenous capitalist class could be created and those industries and services privatised.
Because I also get queasy about foreign ownership of vital assets.
My guiding principle here is that the national interest must over-ride ideological considerations.
Answer me this: If Wales was independent, would you stick dogmatically to the free enterprise model and have our rail system owned by a Chinese company, or would you prefer to see our rail system owned by the state (and therefore) the Welsh people?
An interesting question Jac. I have for many years been steadfastly opposed to any form of public ownership, and indeed keen on rolling back the state’s role both in the economy and the life of the individual citizen.
So my first reaction is that I would be perfectly happy to see the railway in an independent Wales operated by the Chinese or even the English.
However much though I supported Mrs T’s programme of privatisation, private enterprise has not always delivered in the way we hopped.
My problem is that in the UK neither, in my opinion did public ownership. There are clearly some very efficient publicly owned operations out there like the German rail system but we can’t seem to get the model right.
If and it’s a big if a public sector model could be introduced that was demonstrably better than the private sector, and did not take us back to the central planning of BR etc then I might support it.
“My guiding principle here is that the national interest must over-ride ideological considerations.”
I suggest this as the guiding principle of any new party in all policy areas. Nation first, dogma later – if at all.
Labours new technique. Carwyn and Corbyn seemed to be playing different campaigns at the GE… but ultimately both sides won votes for the same party. Seems like its the foundation of a similar tactic probably targeting discontent nationalists. Ultimately they think we’re stupid.
Less pro-Union people in government the easier the job will be. Before and after Independence. Think of it like weeding.
Another well written and thought provoking article Jac. I currently work for S.Wales Housing Association (not named in the article) and used to work for The Wallich, which you’ve written about before on here. I was disciplined at work and had to leave after 5 years as I came into conflict with my managers on more than one occasion for questioning the drug policy in one of their homeless hostels i.e they basically turned a blind eye to heroin and other drug use on the premises. when I challenged this the managers pulled me aside and told me to stop getting ‘excited’. eventually I was put on a disciplinary for ‘bullying & harrassment’ (questioning) and had a choice to resign or face dismissal. the longer I worked there the more I came to the conclusion that homelessness organisations in Wales are an industry and not a charity.
it’s upsetting to hear these stories of unscrupulous housing associations dumping this kind of clientele on the good people of Lampeter, but what can we do as concerned citizens? you say at the start of the article that Wales is tied into an England/Wales system unlike in Scotland. Is Plaid or any other party trying to change this and who do we lobby?
I was sacked for “insubordination” – basically challenging the bent boss – who was proven to be a liar and a forger in my subsequent tribunal application – lying and producing documents she herself had forged and that underpinned my entire case to committee no less! Kept her job though! – I got a £24,000 pay-off but had to sign a confidentiality something or other…..Oops……mind you it was 17 years or so ago. Remember it like it was yesterday though.
I’ve joked about it, but how many homelessness organisations do you think there are operating in Wales?
100-150?
Bloody hell!
You have given this sector a good airing over the last 3 years or more yet in that time ( roughly when I started picking up on your work regularly ) I know of no politician that’s seen fit to sink his/her teeth into the matter.
That’s a very interesting question. A Google of homeless organisations Wales threw up a few on just the first page I had never even heard of. Might be worth trying to get a list together, perhaps after other priorities next week are got out of the way?
It’s something I’ve promised myself to do. A FoI might be a good way to start.
The issue with ‘multitude of homelessness charities’ is that they are a self-fulfilling prophecy. One outfit will count a homeless person as having been helped but due to subsequent eviction (benefits being spent on gambling, drugs or alcohol) ends up being a client of another. Homelessness is not an ‘event’ but usually an ongoing episode. This results in a homeless person being a client of more than one organisation, either concurrently or consecutively. When the ‘problem’ is quantified, the number each organisation has ‘helped’ is incorrectly added together. This isn’t counting the homeless but counting the same homeless person many times over.
A problem also arises from the criminal justice system in cases of child abuse, rape, and domestic violence. The police can apply bail conditions for one of the pair to vacate a home pending legal process, the courts can also impose restraining orders not to go to a previously occupied premises. These people are classed as ‘intentionally homeless’, and outside the scope of statutory responsibility of the local authorities (often in England) where they originate. These ‘victims’ fall into the hands of homelessness charities, the ‘local connection’ having been removed. In effect the criminal justice system is using them as a cheaper solution than prison because the defendant can eventually plead “found a new life in Wales m’lud” as mitigation to the offence.
As someone else here has said – “Cash is king”.
Plaid and certainly ALL other partis are NOT trying to change this situation, in fact they work very hard at hiding the problem. What we can do is form a new Nationalist party that puts the interests of our country and it’s ‘citizens’ at the top of the agenda.
In fact, before our scheduled meeting on the 18th of this month, we need to compile a precise list of priorities that we we will address, should we decide to form the party.
It is my view that there is enough support out there by now, from disgruntled people who are fed up with all these shenanigans, that we may garner more support than we first anticipated.
any new nationalist party needs to get Wales out of the administrative links with England otherwise how can we serve the need of the people of Wales. No surprises that Plaid are not doing anything about it, their priority seems to be getting the vote for 16-17 year olds and other ‘soft’ political agendas such as this rather than tacking the difficult but more important issues such as housing, managing our own natural resources for example.
I totally agree with you. The other big topic in my view is ‘Citizenship’. Something that should be a major aim for a new party.
As a recognised country with it’s own language, culture and traditions and aiming for independence, citizenship is a key subject that needs to come out of the shadows.
In any normal country, it’s rulers have control over it’s borders, it’s laws, institutions and it’s citizens. Anyone choosing to live and work permanently in our country should have to apply for citizenship, otherwise they dwell here by visa (Green Card etc.). This should not be confused with present UK/ EU citizenship qualification. An immigrant is anyone outside the borders of our country (Cymru) including the other countries of the British Isles.
Voting rights should only be extended to dwellers who have applied and successfully become citizens and have sworn an oath of allegiance to Cymru. Anyone wishing to live and work permanently in our country should be required to be either born here, or have taken up residence for a minimum of five years before applying for Welsh Citizenship. Many of the points are covered in THIS BOOKLET when it comes to present UK citizenship.
At a stroke, employing citizenship status to those moving into our country would immediately undermine the current colonisation of our land by our neighbouring nations.
A similar citizenship (naturalisation) policy exists in most independent countries. Here is the requirements to become a naturalised citizen of the USA:
Naturalization Eligibility Requirements (USA)
Before an individual applies for naturalization, he or she must meet a few requirements. Depending on the individual’s situation, there are different requirements that may apply. General requirements for naturalization are below.
1. Be at least 18 years old at the time of filing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.
2. Be a permanent resident (have a “Green Card”) for at least 5 years.
3. Show that you have lived for at least 3 months in the state or USCIS district where you apply.
4. Demonstrate continuous residence in the United States for at least 5 years immediately preceding the date of filing Form N-400.
5. Show that you have been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the 5 years immediately preceding the date of filing Form N-400.
6. Be able to read, write, and speak basic English.
7. Have a basic understanding of U.S. history and government (civics).
8. Be a person of good moral character, with no criminal convictions or arrests.
10. Demonstrate an attachment to the principles and ideals of the U.S. Constitution.
__________________________________________________________
Any objections to something similar, but customised for a Cymru Rydd?
DT – Please note that if a ‘homeless assistance organisation’ helps to facilitate the taking of illegal narcotics on their premises they are committing a criminal offence. This has been tested in court. Any administrator of such an institution should be aware of the Tao case 1976. A person who is in a position to invite or exclude visitors, holds the key, or takes responsibility for premises will count as an occupier. That person will commit the offence of possession with intent to supply if they knowingly allow their premises to be used for consumption. The only exception is by qualified clinical supervision. The ‘turning a bind eye’ defense does not wash.
Very interesting and truthful article! I live near Dolgellau and it’s getting like what you’ve written, while there are many who contribute to the community, there are many of those who come here from places like Essex, Birmingham etc. One of them is now and then on the Cambrian News for petty crimes and drug related stuff, others seem to come here jobless and on benefits, like the local big mouth from York who has 7 kids another one coming and chucks her boyfriends out when the council come to meet her, apparently she’s meant to be a single mother, the benefit system is out of control and certain people know how to play it.
It’s hard for locals to get a house as the council houses too are always full, even those who need benefits. There are plenty of empty houses in town for sale as well, I have at least one for sale since January, and get phone calls from England offering for prices way lower than the house is worth, even though the estate agent is local and Welsh, I’m guessing it’s probably because of the new ones they been building up in the hills. I have some for rent, but I give up with accepting tenants from the council, as I’ve had bad experiences with them, no matter how fair and respectful you are, and the courts are a joke.
The council or whoever decides to build more houses are more interested in building more new ones, spoiling more land, while local farmers are not allowed to build sheds or have strict and at times ridiculous rules on things like renovating old barns.
There’s an area in the town named Uwch y Maes,where they wanted to buy more land to build more houses, but some twat decided to call it “Dollywood”, I don’t think it’s official but that’s what the residents there call it, and most of the houses are bought by companies like you mentioned, and probably Wales & West or private landlords in England.
Dolgellau and probably Tywyn is turning like Barmouth and Fairbourne by the looks of things.
There is definitely a floating, benefit-dependent underclass that can be moved around quite easily because they have no jobs – are often unemployable – and having worn out their welcome in one area it suits them to move to an area where they aren’t known.
These are feckless bastards who often have a large number of kids, kids who then bring their own problems to local schools and the wider community. They will usually have ‘issues’ that see them filling up the local doctor’s waiting room.
In short, they are the sort of people that no sane and self-respecting country would allow in, but Wales has no option. Worse, there are cross-border agencies, third sector bodies, councils and private landlords doing well out of bringing in white trash . . . and wrecking Welsh communities.
And that sums up the grim reality that brings all sorts of hand wringing apologists out of the woodwork. As soon as one dares criticise these imported wasters,many of whom are beyond sorting out to any meaningful extent, the wet softie dreamers come over all indignant. Yet very few of these dreamers, if any, have regular exposure to the misfits. We have enough of our own problem families without making an industry out of accommodating and featherbedding the rejects of English conurbations and large local authorities.
I am not sure that I see old style LA housing and planning departments as a lost golden age, they were of course responsible for some pretty bad social housing (Tower blocks etc), and Local Authority housing officers were not immune underhand behavior or even criminal acts (John Poulson and T Dan Smith come to mind).
But its clear that the social housing sector in Wales is broken, possibly beyond repair.
What does seem clear however is that any organisation charged with delivering social housing in a particular geographic area, must have an obligation to meet the specific needs of that community. If for example there is a proven need for additional extra care facilities for the elderly in say Tregaron, fine build them, but the suggestion of attracting “new residents” to these facilitates seems beyond stupid, and a misuse of public funds.
there was talk following some court process that housing associations due to the ladles of dosh handed their way are to be counted as public bodies and there was some mentions of privatisation [Gideon Osborne?]. If you look at the large London HA’s they would be huge property companies if they were floated. No doubt the Welsh HA’s would be fairly big [eg Wales & West/Gwalia]
I can’t see such plans here as in S/W Wales the Council’s and HA’s are in each others pockets with Council’s having 1. transferred Housing to HA’s and 2. being a conduit for oodles of grant funding [Euro plus WG] and land. Look at the cheap sale in Ceredigion to a local HA, authorised by the Council. As you may say Council taxpayers handing over land [money] to an organisation who may import problem families etc from across Offa’s Dyke?.
Two parcels of land owned by Ceredigion Council at Bow Street and Felinfach sold to the then Tai Cantref at less than market value. Tai Ceredigion then claimed that land owned by Council should also be sold to them at less than market value to provide affordable housing on 0.7 acres at Maesyderi Talybont. Market value assessed by District Valuer at £255,000. Tai Ceredigion were prepared to accept reduced valuation of £150,000.
I don’t think I’d object to sales of that manner if the land was used for social housing to meet a local need. This can be regarded as a gain for the local community.
My objections begin when publicly-held land, or property, is sold cheaply and then used by housing associations and other bodies to bring in someone else’s problems. By doing this the local community loses out twice over.
Very interesting post again Jac. Do you think providing a link to your post to National Assembly Public Accounts Committee {PAC} would help to highlight these issues in view of their recent investigation into regulatory oversight of Housing Associations in Wales. Although we both provided evidence to PAC you will recall that our submissions were not placed in the public domain. There is at least one member of PAC who may decide to ask the relevant questions.
Done.
Hmm, as a former employee of Hafan Cymru, I was curious about their accounts. They’re tucked away in the Annual Report link – assuming you can persevere through the distractions of audio and visual bombardment. Couldn’t find much detail, and did wonder what the “Exceptional Item” of £215,000 was in the results for 2017……
The problem is that housing associations are not subject to the FoI legislation.
Cash is king, and what you dont see is the bad cashflow management.